*#^.-' 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNH 
DAVIS 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


lii  late: 


James  G.  Cooper,  M.  D. 


Hayward,  Alameda  Co., 
California. 


DECEMBER,    1902. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/biographicalsketOOemerrich 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


DR.    JAMES    G.    COOPER. 

Born  June  /p,  iS^o.     Died  July  ig,  igo2. 

FROM    A    PHOTO    TAKEN    IN     1065. 


Dr.  JAMES  G.  COOPER. 

A   SKETCH 
[By  W.  O.  Ktnerson,  President  of  the  Cooper  Ornithological  Club.J 


IT  is  proper,  and  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of  the 
Club,  that  the  initial  number  of  the  Buli^ETIn 
should  contain  a  brief  sketch  of  the  life  of  him,  in 
whOvSe  honor  our  Club  is  named, — Dr.  James  G.  Cooper. 

The  fact  that  Dr.  Cooper,  though  very  feeble,  is  yet 
alive,  precludes  us  from  entering  upon  any  detailed 
view  of  his  private  life,  even  though  it  be  that  phase 
with  which  his  friends  most  delight.  We  must,  there- 
fore, confine  ourselves  to  the  scientific  aspect  of  his  life, 
as  it  is  in  this  relation  that  he  is  best  known  to  thous- 
ands who  have  never  met  him,  and  who  will  be  pained 
to  learn  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  him  to  receive 
visitors,  as  it  is  difficult  and  painful  for  him  to  speak. 

When  it  became  necessary  for  us  to  visit  him  to 
verify  certain  portions  of  this  sketch,  we  noticed  his 
evident  pleasure  when  he  learned  that  the  Club  in- 
tended to  publish  its  own  Buli.KTin,  and  he  expressed 
the  wish  to  do  all  that  he  could  to  further  its  interests. 
To  us  this  meeting  was  at  once  a  promise  and  a  bene- 
diction. For  many  years  he  had  been  to  us  a  friend 
and  a  guide,  and  necessarily  our  mind  reverted  to  the 
time  when  we  learned  of  bird-life  at  his  feet.  As  we 
looked  on  his  kindly  face  and  listened  to  the  almost  in- 
articulate words,  in  memory  we    traveled   backward  to 


the  time  of  our  first  lesson  in  bird-life;  he  sitting  on  a 
rock  in  the  shadow  of  the  trees,  and  the  student  watch- 
ing the  birds  which  he  noted  as  they  flew  about  us  or 
jumped  from  stone  to  stone,  making  the  air  vibrate 
with  their  music. 

Eighteen  years  ago!  What  a  vista  of  time  is  here 
unrolled.  What  changes  this  period  has  wrought,  yet 
in  memory  he  is  again  giving  his  first  field  lesson,  tak- 
ing the  Rock  Wren  for  an  object  study  as  it  sits  on  a 
huge  blue-gray  rock  singing  to  us  its  song  of  welcome. 
Here  he  talked  to  us  of  Nature  in  all  of  her  varied 
forms;  told  of  the  birds,  their  songs,  their  flights,  plum- 
age and  their  homelife;  of  their  loves  and  hates,  joys 
and  sorrows!  All  of  this  was  told  in  common  language, 
without  scientific  nomenclature,  and  thus  we  saw 
Nature  and  her  works  through  the  eyes  of  one  who 
loved  and  had  long  questioned  and  learned  many  of 
her  secrets,  until  the  setting  sun  found  us  yet  worship- 
ing in  Nature's  temple,  and  the  student  gaining  his 
first  glimpse  into  that  grand  arcana.  This  was  our 
teacher's  manner;  thus  he  gathered  around  him  the 
young  ornithologists  and  in  the  field  taught  them  the 
lessons  of  bird-life,  and  it  was  from  the  incentives  of 
these  field  studies  that  our  Club  w^as  formed,  and  in  his 
honor  named,  and  at  the  Club  meeting  held  December 
5,  1896,  he  was  by  unanimous  vote  placed  on  our  roll  as 
an  Honororary  Life  Member. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Club,  Mr.  C.  Barlow,  fully    ex- 


pressed  the  sentiments  of  all  when,  in  advising  Dr. 
Cooper  of  the  action,  he  wrote:  ''The  Club  which  was 
named  in  your  honor  was  organized  June   22,    1893.     * 

*  As  an  organization  of  comparatively  young  work- 
ers, we  all  feel  indebted  to  yourself  and  the  few  re- 
maining veteran  ornithologists  for  the  excellent  and 
valuable  material  which  you  have  prepared  in  the  years 
past." 

James  G.  Cooper  was  born  June  19,  1830,  in  New 
York,  being  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  six  children.  In 
the  spring  of  1837,  ^^^  father,  William  Cooper,  moved 
to  New  Jersey  and  settled  at  Slongha,  near  Hoboken, 
where  James  commenced  his  school  life,  but  it  was  not 
until  he  was  ten  years  of  age  that  his  school  life  really 
began,  as  prior  to  this  time  he  was  subject  to  many 
and  severe  spells  of  illness.  As  he  was  obliged  to  walk 
a  mile  or  more  through  the  j&elds,  he  took  many  of  the 
side  paths  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  birds,  shells, 
snakes  and  other  objects  of  natural  history,  thus  early 
showing  the  tendency  which  has  marked  his  later 
years.  During  this  period  and  the  succeeding  years, 
he  was  largely  indebted  to  his  father  for  his  education 
and  real  preparation  for  his  after  career.  It  may  be 
proper  that  we  devote  a  few  words  to  the  father  who 
exerted  so  great  an  influence  in  the  son. 

His  father,  William  Cooper,  was  born  in  the  year 
1798,  and  was  the  son  of  James  Cooper,  an  English 
merchant,  who,  coming  to  New  York  shortly  after  the 


Revolutionary  War,  accumulated  a  comfortable  fortune, 
and  died  in  1801.  William  gave  up  all  ideas  of  busi- 
ness and  devoted  his  life  to  the  study  of  Nature,  inher- 
iting these  tastes  from  his  mother,  who  was  Miss 
Frances  Graham.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  William 
Cooper  united  with  a  number  of  others  and  established 
the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History  of  New  York,  which 
became  the  school  of  many  of  our  noted  scientists.  Sen- 
ator Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  M.  D.,  was  the  first  President, 
who  with  Cooper  laid  the  foundation  of  its  magnificent 
museum.  Nathaniel  Paulding,  the  poet,  was  its  first 
Secretary,  and  William  Cooper  was  Secretary  in  1818 
when  it  was  incorporated.  For  many  years  Dr.  John 
Torrey,  who  was  the  educator  of  many  of  our  noted 
botanists,  was  the  curator  of  the  museum,  and  the  inti- 
mate personal  friend  of  Mr.  Cooper,  and  to  him  Dr.  Tor- 
rey dedicated  his  first  real  botanical  work,  The  Botany  of 
the  No7'thern  and  Middle  States.  At  this  time  Prof. 
Eaton  was,  under  the  direction  of  Courtland  Van  Rens- 
selaer, making  geological  surveys.  These  old  records 
of  the  Lyceum,  which  are  before  us  as  we  write,  vividly 
recall  the  early  struggling  days  of  science  in  the  United 
States.  What  a  list  of  scientific  workers,  do  these  old 
files  of  proceedings  recall.  Mark  the  time,  1818  to  1854. 
In  1 82 1  William  Cooper  departed  for  Europe  in  order 
to  perfect  himself  in  zoology,  and  was  the  first  American 
member  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  London.  He  attend- 
ed the  lectures  of  Cuvier  and  those  master  minds  of  the 


Jardin  des  Plantes,  and  on  his  return  to  the  United  States 
took  up  the  study  of  Palaeontology,  being  among  the  first 
in  our  country  to  engage  in  this  science.  He  became  the 
warm  friend  of  Schoolcraft  who  afterwards  made  for  him- 
self a  name  as  a  historian  of  the  Indian  races.  William 
Cooper  was  the  friend,  correspondent  and  co-laborer  of 
Lucien  Bonaparte,  and  edited  the  last  two  volumes  of 
Bonaparte's  works,  who  showed  his  appreciation  of  the 
assistance  by  dedicating  to  Cooper  one  of  the  finest  of  his 
new  species,  Falco  cooperi,  the  type  specimen  of  which 
was  shot  by  Cooper  in  Hudson  County,  N.  Y.,  and  an- 
other type  specimen,  ^todrormas  cooperi^  was  also  taken 
by  him,  and  it  is  unique  in  the  fact  that  no  second  speci- 
men has  been  secured.  The  result  of  William  Cooper's 
ornithological  work  is  largely  incorporated  in  Bonaparte's 
works.  He  was  the  friend  of  Audubon,  and  Nuttall,  and 
gave  them  the  use  of  his  specimens  and  notes,  and  assist- 
ed them  in  their  works.  He  died  April  20,  1864,  and  at 
this  time,  he  and  his  life  long  friend,  John  Torrey,  were 
the  only  surviving  members  of  the  original  Lyceum,  Mr. 
Cooper  having  been  a  member  forty-seven  years. 

Nurtured  by  such  influences,  his  education  superin- 
tended by  such  a  father,  his  earliest  memory  being  of  the 
conversations  of  such  men,  it  would  be  impossible  for  the 
subject  of  our  sketch  to  be  other  than  that  which  he  has 
been, — an  authority  in  his  own  field  of  study.  In  1851 
James  G.  Cooper  graduated  from  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons,  New  York,  and  henceforth  will  be 


known  to  us  as  Dr.  Cooper.  The  succeeding  two  years 
were  spent  in  the  City  hospitals,  when  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1853  we  find  him  taking  the  initiatory  step 
that  to  him  was  the  turning  point  of  his  life;  a  period  in 
which  hope  and  ambition  as  regards  certain  directions  be- 
came ruling  factors  and  decided  his  course. 

We  may  be  pardoned  for  dwelling  a  moment  on  a 
period  that  strengthened  his  tendencies,  and  decided  the 
course  of  his  ambitious  future.  At  this  time  the  Govern- 
ment had  determined  to  take  some  action  in  regard  to  a 
trans-continental  railroad,  and  was  making  arrangements 
for  a  preliminary  survey  for  a  route  between  St.  Paul  and 
Puget  Sound,  and,  on  April  27,  1853,  Dr.  Cooper  signed 
a  contract  with  Gov.  I.  I.  Stevens,  (who  had  lately  been 
appointed  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Washington,  and 
placed  in  charge  of  the  survey)  as  one  of  the  physicians 
to  the  survey.  This  appointment  meant  more  to  him 
than  the  mere  $70.00  a  month  that  he  received,  as  it 
brought  him  into  direct  contact  with  those  bright  and 
able  minds  whose  after  acts  became  a  large  portion  of  the 
history  of  our  country,  and  of  science.  What  a  galaxy 
of  bright  names  have  been  clustered  around  this  survey. 
These  were  the  men  with  whom  our  friend  lived,  thought 
and  acted. 

To  the  Eastern  division  Dr.  Suckley  was  assigned, 
while  Dr.  Cooper  was  assigned  to  the  Western  under  the 
direct  superintendence  of  Brevet  Captain  Geo.  B.  Mc- 
Clellan  of  the  Engineer  Corps,  to  whom  he  reported  June 


14,  1853. 

At  this  point  we  must  digress  to  note  the  names  here 
associated,  which  in  a  few  years  were  to  stand  as  the  sup- 
porters of  principles  whose  final  disposition  was  made  the 
basis  of  our  Ci\dl  War.  Jefferson  C.  Da\ds  wrote  and  is- 
sued Dr.  Cooper's  instructions;  Geo.  B.  McClellan  was 
his  immediate  commander;  U.  S.  Grant  was  the  Regi- 
mental Quartermaster  that  issued  his  supplies;  A.  J.  Don- 
elson  was  in  command  of  the  escort  and  Hardie  in  com- 
mand of  the  Division  of  the  Pacific.  As  we  read  the  or- 
ders and  documents  signed  by  these  men,  what  memories 
are  awakened ! 

Connected  with  this  sur\^ey  was  Mullen,  who  after- 
wards became  the  roadmaker.  There  were  John  Torrey, 
Asa  Gray,  F.  V.  Hayden,  Gibbs,  Meek,  Baird,  Le  Conte, 
Lesqueraux,  Warren,  Suckley  and  others  who  were  co- 
laborers  with  Dr.  Cooper,  and  who  have  w^ritten  their 
names  on  the  scroll  of  the  world  of  science.  From  June 
14,  1853,  to  April  I,  1854,  Dr.  Cooper  was  engaged  in 
making  botanical  and  zoological  collections  and  meteoro- 
logical obser\'ations.  This  latter  work  was  the  peculiar 
duty  that  was  always  assigned  to  the  surgeons  of  the 
army,  but  until  this  time  it  had  not  been  productive  of 
any  tangible  results,  although  Blodgett  had  attempted  to 
formulate  some  of  the  laws  regarding  climatic  conditions, 
and  was  busy  in  reducing  the  accumulated  obsen^ations, 
and  Redfield  had  propounded  his  theory  of  storms. 
\\niile  engaged  in  the  study  of   the   forest  growth  of   the 


Northwest,  Dr.  Cooper's  attention  was  directly  called  to 
the  correspondence  between  the  forest  distribution  and 
climatic  influences,  which  largely  determined  the  envir- 
onment. The  result  of  this  study  was  communicated  to 
the  public  through  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  and  was 
the  first  systematic  statement  regarding  the  forest  growth 
that  was  issued  by  the  Government. 

While  Dr.  Cooper  can  not  be  regarded  as  a  profession- 
al meteorologist,  yet  the  reductions  of  the  obser\^ations  of 
this  survey  are  models,  and  these  observations  had  a  pro- 
found influence  on  his  future  work.  The  survey  was 
disbanded  April  i,  1854,  and  McClellan  ordered  our 
friend  to  report  to  Gov.  Stevens  at  Fort  Vancouver.  His 
specimens  were  transmitted  to  Prof.  Baird  at  Washing- 
ton, to  which  place  he  soon  went  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
paring his  report.  Returning  to  the  coast  he  spent  the 
entire  year  of  1855  in  collecting  specimens  of  natural  his- 
tory, and  it  was  at  this  time  that  his  attention  was  so 
strongly  fixed  upon  that  line  of  thought  in  which  proba- 
bly he  is  best  known — that  of  Conchology.  His  report 
on  the  ornithology  of  the  survey  has  become  a  model, 
and  is  marked  by  deep,  searching  and  comprehensive 
observations.  Dr.  Suckley  was  a  joint  author  with 
Cooper,  and  reported  on  a  separate  section. 

lyate  in  the  fall  of  1855  Dr.  Cooper  went  up  the  coast  to 
Gray's  Harbor,  joining  the  Indian  Treaty  Commission 
under  Gov.  Stevens,  intending  to  accompany  the  Gov- 
ernor to  the  Blackfoot  Council  at  Fort  Benton,  but  in  this 


he  was  disappointed.  In  the  meantime  he  made  a  voyage 
to  the  Straits  of  Fuca  and  spent  a  month  on  Whitby's 
Island,  collecting  specimens,  returning  to  Shoalwater 
Bay  in  July  where  he  remained  until  Oct.  4,  when  he 
sailed  in  the  Coast  Survey  steamer  Active^  by  invitation 
of  Capt.  Allen,  to  San  Francisco.  He  spent  six  weeks 
in  collecting  specimens  in  the  Santa  Clara  Valley,  then 
proceeding  southward  to  Panama  he  collected  shells  for 
his  father,  whose  last  scientific  writing  was  a  report  on 
West  Coast  shells.  Pacific  R.  R.  Report.  This  large  col- 
lection passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Chicago  Academy  of 
Sciences  and  was  destroyed  in  the  great  fire.  Dr.  Suck- 
ley  was  not  with  him  at  this  time,  he  having  returned  to 
the  East.  Altogether  Dr.  Cooper  spent  two  years  and 
three  months  in  Washington  Territory,  and  this  was 
really  his  school  of  preparation.  From  April  i,  1854, 
until  1857,  all  of  the  work  that  he  did  was  by  his  own 
private  enterprise  and  in  obedience  to  his  love  for  science, 
and  it  is  at  this  point  that  we  bid  farewell  to  the  botanist 
and  welcome  the  ornithologist  and  conchologist. 

On  April  22,  1857,  ^^'  Cooper  was  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  appointed  Surgeon  to  the  Wagon  Road  from 
Fort  Kearney  to  the  South  Pass  and  Honey  Lake.  How- 
ever, when  the  expedition  reached  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
it  became  necessary  to  disband  it,  and  the  Doctor  went 
on  a  collecting  trip  through  the  Mojave  desert.  The  re- 
sults of  this  trip  are  contained  in  his  various  reports  on 
the  fauna  of  Montana,    Wyoming   and   the   Mojave,  and 


are  scattered  through  his  later  writings.  On  April  i6, 
i860,  Gen.  W.  S.  Scott  issued  special  order  No.  47,  di- 
recting Dr.  J.  G.  Cooper  as  Contract  Surgeon,  to  report 
at  New  York,  and  to  proceed  thence  to  Fort  Columbus, 
Department  of  Oregon,  accompanying  a  detachment  of 
recruits.  This  duty  terminated  Oct.  19,  i860,  but  his 
contract  was  continued  to  Dec.  i  of  that  year.  Again  as 
a  student  we  find  him  collecting  along  the  coast  from  San 
Francisco  to  San  Diego.  From  now  henceforward  we 
view  the  energetic,  thoughtful  scientific  mind.  From 
1 86 1  to  1874  was  one  continuous  series  of  field  observa- 
tions and  studies,  the  results  of  which  are  embraced  in 
his  numerous  publications  until  the  year  1890.  This 
period  will  again  be  examined  when  we  speak  of  his  pub- 
lications. 

The  gigantic  struggle  of  the  Civil  War  found  him  a 
student  and  an  active  worker  in  the  field  of  science. 
Watching  this  struggle,  listening  to  the  roll-calls  of  the 
dead,  sick  and  wounded,  he  again  sought  service  in  the 
army,  and  on  May  24,  1864,  Gov.  F.  F.  Law  com- 
missioned him  as  Assistant  Surgeon,  2d  Cavalry,  Cali- 
fornia Volunteers,  and  he  served  with  this  regiment  until 
its  muster  out.  Even  during  this  period  he  did  not  re- 
linquish his  scientific  work,  which  was  that  of  identifica- 
tion of  individual  specimens,  of  reference,  and  in  publish- 
ing his  observations.  He  was  now  a  sj^stematist  and  not 
a  collector.  January  9,  1866,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Rosa  M.  Wells  at  Oakland,  California. 


It  is  not  our  purpose  to  draw  aside  the  curtain  that 
separates  his  scientific  and  public  life  from  the  sanctity  of 
his  home-life.  At  present  we  feel  that  we  have  no  right 
to  enter  the  home  and  to  paint  the  picture  of  the  peace 
and  happiness  of  that  home  circle,  where,  surrounded  by 
wife  and  children,  he,  in  perfect  security  and  the  loving 
trust  of  a  well  spent  life,  calmly  awaits  the  summons  that 
shall  bid  him  move  to  another  home.  Sometime  it  may 
be  our  duty  and  pleasure  to  draw  the  picture  of  his  home 
life  and  to  write  more  fully  of  his  scientific  life,  but  the 
time  is  not  yet  come,  and  it  may  be  that  other  and  better 
pens  than  ours  may  perform  this  duty,  but  none  would 
bring  to  its  accomplishment  more  loyal  labor.  Until  1871 
Dr.  Cooper  was  in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession, 
when  his  health  failing,  he  moved  to  Ventura  County, 
California,  and  remained  there  engaged  in  collecting  un- 
til in  1875  he  moved  to  Hayward,  California,  where  he 
now  resides. 

Thus  far  we  have  carried  a  brief,  running  itinerary,  as 
it  were,  of  his  scientific  life,  recounting  his  movements 
until  the  time  that  he  moved  to  Hayward,  at  which  it  is 
our  purpose  to  leave  this  view  of  his  life,  and  take  up  the 
purely  scientific  portion  and  his  publications.  In  1858 
Dr.  Cooper  was  made  a  member  of  the  New  York  Ly- 
ceum, now  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences.  Although 
not  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  California  Academy 
of  Sciences,  he  is  one  of  its  early  members,  and  until  fail- 
ing health  prevented,  one  of   its  earnest  and  active  work- 


ers,  holding  for  several  years  the  office  of  Vice  President 
and  one  term  as  Second  Vice  President.  During  the  time 
of  the  auxiliary  clubs  he  was  the  President  of  the  Zoolog- 
ical Club.  Much  of  his  active  work  in  connection  with 
the  Academy  has  been  in  palaeontology,  and  he  was  for 
some  time  curator  of  this  section.  A  large  number  of  his 
works  were  first  published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Academy.  He  did  considerable  work  on  the  Geological 
Survey  of  California  under  Whitney,  a  portion  of  this  be- 
ing in  pure  geology  and  a  portion  in  palaeontology.  He 
compiled  the  catalogue  of  California  Fossils  for  the  Min- 
ing Bureau. 

Our  first  impulse  was  to  give  a  full  catalogue  of  his 
publications,  but  having  arranged  a  full  list  of  titles,  we 
have  thought  it  would  meet  the  requirements  of  this 
sketch  in  a  better  manner  if  a  synopsis  by  subjects  were 
given  in  lieu  of  the  catalogue:  On  Conchology,  43  papers. 
Botany,  6  papers.  Ornithology,  12  papers,  Mammals,  8 
papers,  other  scientific  subjects,  7  papers.  Total,  76. 
While  his  scientific  work  has  been  a  varied  one,  it  is  his 
ornithological  work  that  particularly  interests  our  Club, 
and  it  may  be  inappropriate  for  the  BUI.1.KTIN  to  present 
any  other  phase,  yet  before  examining  his  ornithological 
contributions  we  cannot  retrain  from  mentioning  other 
work  for  the  reason  that  it  bears  so  directly  on  certain 
phases  of  his  purely  ornithological  work.  Necessarily  we 
must  omit  any  reference  to  conchology  and  palaeontology, 
as  the  scope  of  the  Buli^KTin  will  not  admit  of  such  dis- 


cussion.  Nor  is  it  our  present  purpose  to  critically  ex- 
amine his  ornithological  writings,  but  rather  to  draw  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  Dr.  Cooper  is  one  of  our  best  or- 
nithologists, because,  to  many,  the  conchologist  has  over- 
shadowed the  ornithologist  in  his  work.  We  wish  now 
to  refer  directly  to  the  work  that  in  reality  was  the  result 
of  his  meteorological  observations  and  directed  his  atten- 
tion to  the  question  of  the  geographical  distribution  of 
plants  and  animals.  This  subject  has  been  distinctive  of 
all  of  his  later  work,  and  if  we  are  not  in  error,  he  was 
the  first  to  note  the  particular  laws  governing  the  envir- 
onment of  bird-life. 

At  the  time  he  presented  his  essay  on  the  geographical 
distribution  of  plants,  no  one  in  the  United  States,  and 
only  De  Candalle,  Richard  and  Humboldt  in  Europe,  had 
critically  examined  this  subject,  and  Michaux,  on  the  ba- 
sis of  the  forest  growth  of  a  portion  of  the  United  States 
had  noted  it.  While  Purrsh,  Bartram,  Nuttall,  Barton 
and  Torrey  had  preceded  him,  they  are  silent  on  the  laws 
or  conditions  governing  the  distribution,  and  while  Doug- 
las and  Eschscholtz  preceded  him  on  the  West  Coast  and 
noted  cases  of  geographical  distribution,  they  were  from 
the  very  paucity  of  systematic  observations  unable  to  for- 
mulate any  scientific  generalizations.  Then  we  regard 
this  essay  as  the  first  systematic  presentation  ot  this  sub- 
ject in  the  United  States.  From  the  plants  he  carried 
this  question  into  the  life  history  of  the  MoUusccb,  and 
thence  he  laid  the  foundation   of  his   generalizations   re- 


garding  the  distribution  of  bird-life.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  question  of  geographical  distribution  has 
marked  and  modified  our  views  of  the  life  history  of  birds, 
and  from  the  mere  descriptive  technology  of  ornithology, 
we  have  opened  a  new  and  varied  field  of  ornithological 
study.  In  this  particular  field  he  has  been  a  pioneer, 
and  it  is  a  portion  of  the  special  work  of  this  Club.  To 
the  scientist  the  work  of  Dr.  Cooper  is  of  special  value, 
and  this  is  acknowledged  and  emphasized  by  Prof.  Baird, 
who  says:  *  'By  far  the  most  valuable  contribution  to  the 
biography  of  American  birds  that  has  appeared  since  the 
time  of  Audubon,  is  that  written  by  Dr.  J.  G.  Cooper  in 
the  Geological  Survey  of  California," — (Baird  North 
American  Land  Birds.     Preface  page  i.) 

While  the  number  of  his  publications  on  conchology 
exceeds  those  on  ornithology,  in  the  latter  they  have 
taken  the  form  of  finished  works  or  monographs,  which 
have  such  a  value  as  attaches  to  the  works  of  Audubon, 
Baird,  Wilson  and  Bendire.  During  his  work  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  Dr.  Cooper  discovered  and  established  ten 
forms,  which  will  be  made  the  subject  of  a  paper  in  our 
next  issue. 

Lewis'  and  Clarke's  explorations  to  the  head  waters  of 
the  Missouri  River  made  known  to  us  that  vast  expanse 
of  territory  known  as  the  Northwest  and  Audubon,  Nut- 
tall  and  Townsend  were  the  first  to  describe  and  make 
known  its  zoology.  The  exploration  of  Maj.  Long  in 
1870,    of  which    Dr.    Edwin   James   was    the    scientist, 

—  14  — 


reached  to  the  south  and  west  of  the  territory  covered  by 
lyewis  and  Clark,  but  did  not  to  any  great  extent  enlarge 
our  knowledge  of  its  zoology,  as  James  was  a  better  bot- 
anist than  zoologist.  To  a  certain  extent  the  same  may 
be  remarked  respecting  the  explorations  of  Fremont. 
The  botany  of  these  several  surveys  and  explorations  was 
particularly  elaborated  by  Torrey,  Gray,  James  and 
Eaton,  while  the  zoology  was  not  so  thoroughly  elabor- 
ated. 

In  1 83 1  Sir  John  Richardson  published  the  results  of 
his  observations  of  a  portion  of  the  territory  covered  by 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  but  none  of  these,  however, 
explored  Colorado,  Arizona,  Nevada  and  California,  al- 
though the  work  of  Eschscholtz  covered  a  portion,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  Geological  Survey  of  California  under 
Whitney  that  this  territory  really  became  known  to  sci- 
ence. Thus  this  survey  becomes  a  starting  point  and  a 
scientific  epoch,  as  it  were.  To  this  survey  Dr.  Cooper 
was  assigned  as  zoologist  and  by  mutual  consent  between 
he  and  Whitney,  the  notes  and  specimens  were  to  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Prof.  Baird  for  elaboration  at  the 
Smithsonian  Institute,  and  to  be  finally  published  as  a 
portion  of  the  work  on  The  Land  and  Water  Birds  of 
North  America  by  Baird,  Brewer  and  Ridgway.  This 
arrangement,  however,  was  not  practically  carried  out, 
and  a  large  portion  of  this  work  was  published  by  Whit- 
ney as  a  part  of  the  California  Reports.  A  portion  of  the 
bird   skins   were   deposited    at    the   State   University   at 


Berkeley. 

Thus  it  was  the  zoological  work  of  Dr.  Cooper  in  con- 
nection with  this  survey  that  has  so  enlarged  our  real 
knowledge  of  the  zoology  of  this  section.  Thus,  from 
December  i860  until  April  1862,  and  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  1863  he  was  collecting  in  the  Colorado  Valley  near 
Fort  Mojave.  This  included  the  vicinity  of  San  Diego, 
San  Pedro,  Santa  Barbara  and  the  islands  of  the  coast. 
In  1864  he  explored  a  portion  of  the  coast  from  Bolinas 
Bay  to  Santa  Cruz,  and  during  a  portion  of  this  time 
(1862)  was  assisted  by  Dr.  Edward  Palmer.  During  this 
period  he  did  a  large  amount  of  gratuitous  work,  in  the 
way  of  elaborating  the  material  in  various  branches  of 
the  zoology  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  In  1865  he  prepared 
his  series  of  reports  on  the  higher  classes  of  animals.  We 
hope  that  this  preliminary  sketch  will  call  attention  to 
Dr.  Cooper's  ornithological  work,  and  while  it  is  not  in- 
tended to  be  critical,  we  have  attempted  to  do  him 
justice  as  an  original  observer  and  as  an  author.  In  a 
subsequent  issue  of  the  Bui^i^KTiN  we  will  give  a  detailed 
catalogue  of  his  ornithological  publications  expressly  pre- 
pared for  students  who  wish  to  examine  them. 


—  16  — 


IN  MEMORIAM: 
Dr.  James  G.  Cooper. 

OUR  beloved  honorary  member  and  distinguished 
naturalist,  Dr.  James  G.  Cooper  has  passed 
away,  and  with  him  we  lose  a  man  of  sterling 
worth  and  lofty  character,  a  man  who  has  gained  an 
enviable  reputation  in  his  chosen  subject  of  Natural 
History,  and  who  has  left  many  and  valuable  works  in  the 
field  of  Ornithology. 

It  seems  but  a  few  years  since  I  first  met  this  slender 
gentleman  in  the  small  country  postoffice  which  he  held 
in  connection  with  the  only  drug  store  in  Hayward. 
That  was  in  1877.  Three  years  ago  last  March  he  sat 
among  us,  for  the  last  time  in  public,  for  the  study  of 
his  favorite  work,  ornithology.  Tho  not  of  a  strong 
constitution,  he  has  been  the  last  to  answer  the  final  call 
of  the  Creator,  of  that  original  group  of  naturalists 
gathered  around  the  side  of  Prof.  Baird  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

Dr.  Cooper's  Hfe  was  one  of  strong  work,  earn- 
estly done,  as  one  who  clearly  saw  the  facts  of  natural 
science,  and  who  fully  appreciated  the  bearing  of  one 
branch  of  zoology  upon  another,  and  upon  allied  sub- 
jects. This  will  be  noted  in  his  early  study  of  forests 
and  distribution,  and  many  are  the  younger  zoologists 
who  will  think  of  him  in  future  years  when  they  consult 


his  work  on  the  coast  faunal  ranges.  He  was  a  man 
who  could  lead  you  in  paths  of  Nature  to  the  haunts  of 
birds,  to  the  lurking  places  of  shells,  or  to  hidden  fossils, 
and  could  name  for  you  the  rocks,  trees  and  plants  of 
the  mountains,  hills  and  plains. 

Dr.  Cooper  is  best  known  to  us  by  his  works  on 
conchology  and  ornithology.  Of  the  former  there  are 
forty-three  separate  papers  and  of  the  latter  twenty-six. 
His  most  important  work  was  *Xand  Birds"  in  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  California,  and  usually  known  as 
"Ornithology  of  California."  This  book  was  edited  by 
Prof.  Baird  and  includes  most  of  the  land  birds  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mts. 

His  was  a  quiet  unassuming  life,  passed  amid  the 
simple  surroundings  of  his  home.  He  was  a  tall,  spare 
man  of  soldiery  bearing,  with  a  dark  beard  well  silvered, 
clear  blue  eyes,  delicate  hands,  a  voice  slow  and  not 
given  to  a  ready  flow  of  language.  But  when  touched 
on  his  favorite  topic,  the  man  was  forgotten,  and  he  im- 
pressed you  as  one  of  the  true  worshippers  at  Nature's 
shrine — a  noble  man  of  lasting  worth.  At  times  he  was 
humorous,  when  stirred  by  the  reminder  of  some  early 
days  of  exploring  among  the  mountains  and  fields.  Dr. 
Cooper  was  a  great  lover  of  forests,  and  could  never 
bear  to  see  a  tree  cut  down,  or  even  have  it  used  for 
fuel  in  his  home.  There  stands  beside  his  home  today 
a  tall  California  laurel,  which  was  transplanted  from  a 
near  ravine  as  a  little  sapling,  and  which  now  overtops 


his  home.  It  was  early  in  life  that  the  naturalists* 
traits  manifested  themselves,  as  he  says  in  his  autobio- 
graphical summary.  ''I  was  noted  for  planting  tooth- 
picks to  raise  geese,  and  for  hugging  goslings  to  death, 
a  budding  of  ornithological  tastes.  This  occurred  in 
1837  and  continued,  say,  to  1840.  I  went  to  a  country 
school  in  summer,  walked  a  mile  over  hills  and  bad 
roads,  taking  side  paths  thru  the  fields  to  hunt  bird 
nests,  shells  and  reptiles,  which  I  preserved  till  some 
naturalist  captured  the  specimens  for  little  or  nothing. 
The  most  noted  of  these  captures  was  a  living  copper- 
head snake  which  my  sister  Mary  and  I  found  while 
crossing  a  newly  cleared  field,  and  which  finally  went 
alive  to  England.  I  had  many  hunts  for  quadrupeds 
and  preserved  some  up  to  the  size  of  gray  and  fox  squir- 
rels, besides  keeping  red  and  flying  squirrels,  a  racoon, 
oppossum,  and  other  animals  as  pets,  which  attracted 
much  interest  among  visitors.  I  had  a  boy's  mania  for 
hunting,  and  altho  I  could  only  get  small  animals  and 
birds,  I  spent  many  a  day  in  shooting,  no  doubt  with 
impoverishment  to  physical  health.  I  would  wade  thru 
snow  knee-deep  for  miles  with  poor  results  as  to  game, 
but  thought  if  I  ever  went  into  a  wild  country  the  hunt- 
er's life  would  be  my  choice.  Why  man  could  not  live 
happy  on  the  natural  products  of  the  forests  and  streams 
was  a  problem  I  expected  to  solve  in  the  future.  About 
this  time  Tanner's  'Thirty  Years  Among  the  Indians  of 
Canada'  showed  me  much  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way 


of  such  a  mode  of  existence." 

In  this  we  have  a  little  retrospect  into  the  early- 
life  of  Dr.  Cooper  from  his  own  pen.  The  tendencies 
thus  early  manifested  were  fostered  by  his  father,  to 
whom  Dr.  Cooper  owed  his  preparation  for  his  later 
work  in  life,  and  it  was  at  the  home  of  William  Cooper 
that  such  men  as  Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  M.  D.,  Nathaniel 
Paulding,  poet.  Dr.  John  Torrey,  the  botanist.  Prof. 
Eaton,  and  Lucien  Bonaparte  were  wont  to  meet.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  see  how  these  men  may  all  have  exerted  a 
profound  influence  on  the  mind  of  the  young  naturalist. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-eight.  Dr.  Cooper  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  York  Lyceum,  now  the  New  York  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences,  his  father,  at  the  age  of  nineteen, 
having  been  one  of  the  founders.  Dr.  Cooper  was  one 
of  the  early  members  of  the  California  Academy  of 
Sciences,  holding  for  several  years  the  office  of  vice- 
president  and  for  some  years  being  curator  of  the  sec- 
tion of  palaeontolog}^  which  he  had  given  much  time  to 
build  up.  His  last  actual  work  was  the  compiling  of  a 
Catalog  of  California  Fossils,  issued  as  Bulletin  No.  4  by 
the  California  State  Mining  Bureau,  Sept.  1894,  Parts 
II,  III,  IV  and  V. 

Dr.  Cooper  is  the  last  of  that  circle  of  distinguished 
naturalists,  who  had  been  the  foremost  zoologists  and 
botanists  in  his  early  days.  Such  men  as  Asa  Gray, 
Baird,  LeConte,  Hayden,  Meek,  George  Gibbs,  Torrey, 
Warren  and  Dr.  Suckley  were  his  colaborers.      To   the 


memory  of  Dr.  Cooper  we  can  have  no  better  monu- 
ment than  the  valuable  researches  which  he  carried  on 
for  over  forty  years  of  his  life,  consisting  of  some  seven- 
ty-five papers  on  the  birds,  shells,  fossils,  geology,  forests 
and  flora  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 

W.  Otto  Emerson, 

Hayward,  California. 


A  Letter  from  Dr.  Coues  to  Dr.  Cooper. 


THE  following  letter,    contributed  by  Mr.  Emerson, 
is  of  interest  just  now,  in  connection  with  the  life 
of  Dr.  Cooper.     We  have    here  a  glimpse  into  the 
past,  showing  us  at  once   the    friendship    existing   be- 
tween Dr.  Cooper  and    Dr.    Coues,    and    the  esteem  in 
which  Cassin  was  held  bv  his  fellow  workers. 


Fort  Macon,  North  Carolina,   February  21,  1869. 
My  Dear  Cooper: 

I  have  not  heard  from  you  for  so  long,  that  I  don't 
recollect  which  one  of  us  owes  the  other  a  letter;  but 
that's  no  great  matter  after  all!  I  have  received  the 
two  copies  of  your  paper  so  kindly  sent,  and  read  them 
with  unusual  interest  and  profit.  You  quote  me,  I 
notice,  very  extensively.  I  have  not  the  papers  by 
me  or  I  should  like  to  make  a  few  notes  that  struck  me 
on  first  perusal.  I  consider  the  paper  a  highly  inter- 
esting and  very  valuable  one.  That  one  now  printing 
in  the  ''Naturalist"  will  also  be  of  great  practical  ser- 
vice. Please  let  me  have  a  copy  of  all  that  you  write. 
I  understand  that  your  large  work  will  be  out  before 
long.  I  think  I  have  seen  it  announced,  in  print,  in  some 
publisher's  prospectus,  but  can  not  recall  definitely. 
I  look  for  it  with  eager  interest.  I  have  sent  you,  I  think, 
all  the  papers  that  I  have  published   since   my    "Pro- 


drome,"  directing  them  for  want  of  more  definite  ad- 
dress to  care  of  the  S.  F.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc.  Have  you  re- 
ceived them?  A  short  one,  **Ivist  of  Birds  Collected  in 
Arizona  by  Dr.  Ed.  Palmer,"  bears  directly  upon  your 
work.  He  got  on  the  Gila  desert  3  species  not  previ- 
ously attributed  to  the  Territory;  and  several  kinds  of 
eggs  not  before  known  to  the  ornithologists.  My  large 
work  still  remains  in  MSS;  but  is  about  ready  for  the 
press.  I  have  about  2500  pages  of  MSS.  Yours  and 
mine  together  will,  I  think,  about  use  up  the  subject. 
Yours  has  the  great  desideratum  of  mine — illustrations. 
I  know  these  will  be  GREAT;  have  seen  the  proofs  of  a 
great  many  of  them,  and  they  are  first  rate.  Best 
things  out  since  Cassin's  and  the  Pac.  R.  R.  Reports!! 
I  deeply  regret  that  my  book  can  boast  of  nothing  of 
the  sort;  but  I  have  no  means  of  procuring  any  such 
desirable  embellishments. 

After  my  long  stay  at  Columbia,  over  2)^  years,  I 
am  at  length  moved.  Fort  Macon  is  on  one  of  the  long 
islands  off  the  coast  of  North  Carolina  just  opposite 
Beaufort.  I  did  comparatively  little  at  Columbia  in 
the  bird  line,  my  position  being  a  very  onerous  one  as 
regarding  official  duties.  I  only  managed  to  collect 
data  for  a  Synopsis  of  the  Birds  of  the  State  (a  copy  of 
which  I  sent  you).  Although  the  birds  are  of  course 
well  known  in  the  general  run,  I  thought  that  a  new 
carefully  prepared  list  might  find  an  acceptable  place 
in  our  chronicles.  I  have  as  much  time  here  at  my  dis- 


posal  as  you  seem  to  have  at  drum  barracks,  and  I  hope 
to  put  it  to  good  account  in  the  line  of  ornithological 
studies.  I  have  never  before  lived  on  the  South  Atlan- 
tic seaboard. 

Of  course  you  heard  the  sad,  sad  news  that  John 
Cassin's  labors  are  ended.  The  loss  to  Science  none  of 
us  can  measure;  nor  can  those  privileged  to  call  him 
friend  adequately  express  the  depth  of  that  bereave- 
ment. And  many  as  are  our  American  ornithologists — 
high  as  some  stand  in  American  ornithology — there  is 
none  left  in  all  our  land  who  can  lift  up  the  mantle 
that  has  fallen  from  his  shoulders.  His  good  work  is 
accomplished,  and  he  has  gone  to  reap  the  rich  reward 
of  a  life  nobly  spent  in  the  survey  of  Nature's  beauties, 
in  drinking  from  the  perennial  fountain  of  Nature's 
truths.  Since  Audubon  passed  away  from  the  scene 
of  his  usefulness,  death  has  struck  no  such  cruel  blow 
to  our  beloved  science.  As  Dr.  Brewer  has  said  to 
me,  ''which  one  of  our  younger  ornithologists  will 
undertake  to  stand,  after  thirty-five  years  of  training, 
where  Cassin  stood  at  his  death?"  The  all-worthy  time- 
honored  quartette  has  been  rudely  broken.  Now  only 
a  triangle,  I^awrence,  Brewer  and  Baird,  remains  of  the 
last  generation  of  American  ornithologists.  Who  shall 
lead  opinion  when  they  too  are  gathered  to  their  fath- 
ers? A  higher  trust  than  we  perhaps  appreciate,  is 
laid  upon  the  few  of  us  of  this  later  day  who  pay 
devotion  to  the  beautiful  study   of  ornithology.     It   is 


no  less  than  the  keeping  bright  and  untarnished,  and 
transmitting  to  our  successors,  the  name  and  fame  of 
the  science  that  has  absorbed  such  minds  as  those  of 
Wilson,  Nuttall,  Audubon,  Bonaparte  andCassin.  May 
we  prove  worthy  servitors,  guarding  with  jealous  care 
our  trust,  watchful  that  the  vestal  fires  shall  ever  burn 
at  the  shrine  where  we  worship  with  a  clear  and  steady 
flame. 

Ever  yours,  faithfully, 

E1.1.10TT  CouBS. 
Dr.  J.  G.  Cooper, 

Acad.  Nat.  Sciences, 

San  Francisco,  Cala. 


The  Ornithological  Writings  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Cooper. 

BY  JOSEPH   GRIN  NELL. 


IN  the  present  paper  I  have  listed  all  the  ornitholog- 
ical writings  of  the  late  Dr.  Cooper  known  to  me. 
These  number  twenty-six.  It  will  be  noted  that  the 
majority  were  printed  between  i860  and  1880.  While 
the  number  of  Cooper's  titles  was  not  great,  his  articles 
thus  appeared  at  a  time  when  much  less  was  written  on 
birds  than  now,  and  when  much  of  the  subject-matter 
we  might  now  regard  as  commonplace  was  new  informa- 
tion altogether.  As  all  but  two  of  his  publications  per- 
tained at  least  in  part  to  the  birds  of  California  we  of 
the  Cooper  Ornithological  Club  owe  much  to  Dr.  Cooper 
as  being  a  pioneer  in  our  line  of  stud5^  Perhaps  his 
best  known  work  is  his  **Ornithology  of  California** 
which  is  a  desideratum  of  every  working  bird-student. 
Aside  from  his  signed  articles,  Cooper  furnished  materi- 
al, in  the  way  of  specimens  and  manuscript  notes, 
which  was  used  by  Baird  in  1858  and  1864,  and  especi- 
ally by  Baird,  Brewer  and  Ridgway  in  their  colossal 
"History  of  North  American  Birds,"  1874  and  1884. 

Birds  which  have  been  named  in  honor  of  Dr.  J.  G. 
Cooper  are  Buteo  cooperi  Cassin  (status  now  in  doubt), 
Podiceps  cooperi  Lawrkncb  (==ColymbiiS  holbixlli)^  Pyran- 
ga  cooperi  Ridgway  (==Piranga  rubra  cooperi)  and  Melo- 
spiza  fcLsciata  cooperi  Ridgway. 


i86o.  Pac.  R.  R.  Rep.  XII.  Book  II.  i860  —Part 
III.  Route  near  the  forty-seventh  and  forty-ninth  par- 
allels, explored  by  I.  I.  Stevens,  Governor  of  Washing- 
ton Territory  in  1853-55.  Zoological  Report.  — No.  3. 
Report  upon  the  Birds  collected  on  the  Survey.  Chap- 
ter I.  Land  Birds,  by  J.  G.  Cooper,  M.  D.  Chapter  II. 
Water  Birds,  by  Dr.  G.  Suckley,  U.  S.  A.  pp.  140-291,  8 
Pll.  (This  was  Cooper's  first  published  article  on  orni- 
thology and  pertains  chiefly  to  the  birds  noted  during 
the  survey  of  Oregon  and  Washington.  There  are  also 
a  few  references  to  Californian  species,  of  particular 
note  being  his  account  of  the  capture  of  the  unique 
type  of  Biifeo  cooperi  Cassin,  at  Mountain  View,  Santa 
Clara  County.  Although  Cooper  and  Suckley  present 
separate  authorship  for  the  **Land  Birds"  and  "Water 
Birds,"  respectively,  each  evidently  contributed  written 
accounts  to  both  chapters.  Cooper's  initial  as  a  rule 
follows    the  most  extended  and  detailed  field  notes.) 

1 86 1.  New  Californian  Animals.  — Proc.  Cal.  Ac. 
Nat.  Sc.  II,  July  1861,  pp.  1 18-123.  (Cooper  here  def- 
initely records  from  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State 
Panyptila  tnelanolezica  [=Aeronatiies  inelanoleucus\  Chor- 
deiles  texensis^  Tyr annus  vociferans,  Vireo  belli  [=  V, 
pusillus\  Harporhynchus  \=Toxostoma\  lecontei,  Icterus 
cucullatus  [nelsoni],  and  Hydrochelidon  plumbea  \_-=H. 
suriname7isis\  as  well  as  others  from  Fort  Mojave. 
He  also  describes  two  new  species   from   Fort  Mojave, 


Athene  whitneyi  \=Micropallas    whitneyt]  and  Helmin- 
thophaga  lucice), 

1865.  On  a  new  Cormorant  from  the  Farallone  Is- 
lands, California.  — Proc.  Ac.  Nat.  Sc.  Phil.,  January 
1865,  pp.  5-6.  (Description  of  Graculus  Bairdii  \=Phal' 
acrocorax  pelagicus  resplendens.']) 

1868.  Some  Recent  Additions  to  the  Fauna  of  Cali- 
fornia. — Proc.  Cal.  Ac.  Sc.  IV,  November  1868,  pp.  3-13. 
(Mention,  with  occasional  critical  remarks,  of  forty-five 
species,  some  of  them  for  the  first  time  recorded  from 
the  State). 

1869.  The  Fauna  of  Montana  Territory.  — Am. 
Naturalist,  1869;  II,  January,  pp.  596-600;  III,  March, 
pp.  31-35;  April,  73-84.  Corrections,  June,  p.  224. 
(More  or  less  extended  notes  on  about  no  species  of 
birds). 

1869.  The  Naturalist  in  California.  — Am.  Natur- 
alist III;  June,  pp.  182-189;  November,  pp.  470-481. 
(Field-notes  on  many  birds  observed  on  the  I^os  An- 
geles Plains,  at  Cajon  Pass,  along  the  Mojave  River, 
and  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Mojave,  which  latter  place, 
however,  is  on  the  Arizona  side  of  the  Colorado  River). 

1869.  Notes  on  the  Fauna  of  the  Upper  Missouri. 
— Am.  Naturalist  III,  August  1869,  pp.  294-299.  (In- 
cludes numerous  ornithological  notes). 

—  28  — 


1870.  Geological  Survey  of  California.  |  J.  D. 
Whitney,  State  Geologist.  |  —  |  Ornithology.  |  Vol- 
ume I.  I  Land  Birds.  |  Edited  by  S.  F.  Baird,  |  from 
the  Manuscript  and  Notes  of  |  J.  G.  Cooper.  |  —  |  Pub- 
lished by  authority  of  the  Legislature.  |  1870.  pp.  i-xi, 
1-592;  with  a  great  many  figures.  (This,  Cooper's  great- 
est work,  includes  the  birds  of  all  the  region  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Most  of  the  text  is  in  the 
nature  of  biographical  accounts,  and  included  most  of 
what  was  known  at  the  time  of  publication.  The  tech- 
nical parts  were  prepared  by  Baird). 

1870.  The  Fauna  of  Cahfornia  and  its  Geograph- 
ical Distribution.  — Proc.  Cal.  Ac.  Sc.  IV,  February 
1870,  pp.  61-81.  (Contains  separate  lists  of  birds  for 
different  localities,  including  those  observed  on  several 
of  the    Santa    Barbara  Islands). 

1 87 1.  Monterey  in  the  Dry  Season.  — Am.  Nat- 
uralist IV,  February  1871,  pp.  756-758.  (Running  ac- 
count of  thirty  species  of  birds  observed  in  the  vicinity 
of  Monterey.) 

1874.  Animal  Life  of  the  Cuyamaca  Mountains. — 
Am.  Naturalist  VIII,  January  1874,  pp.  14-18.  (Brief 
mention  of  84  species  of  birds  observed  in  the  vicinity 
of  the    Cuyamaca   Mountains,  San  Diego  County). 

1874.  ** Verbal  Remarks."  —Proc.  Cal.  Ac.  Sc.  V, 
December  1874,  pp. 414-415.    (Specimens of  Urialomvia^ 


which  later  proved  to  have  been  the  young  of  Uria  cal- 
if ornicay  and  Ster cor arius parasiticus  from  the  coast  of 
California.) 

1875.  Notes  on  California  Thrushes. — Am.Natura- 
list  IX,  February  1875,  pp.  114-116.  (Corrections  in  re- 
gard to  the  ''Ornithology  of  California:"  Turdus 
ustulatus  and  ''Z!  nanus^) 

1875.  New  Facts  relating  to  Californian  Ornithol- 
ogy— No.  I.  — Proc.  Cal.  Ac.  Sc.  VI,  December  1875, 
pp.  189-202.  (Extended  critical  and  biographical  notes 
on    a   number  of  the  less  known  species. 

1876.  Early  nesting  of  the  Anna  Hummingbird. 
— Am.  Naturalist  X,  January  1876,  pp.  48-50.  (In  the 
vicinity  of  Haywards). 

1876.  Californian  Garden  Birds.  — Am.  Natural- 
ist X,  February  1876,  pp.  90-96.  (Running  account  of 
about  forty  species  nesting  in  the  neighborhood  of  Hay- 
wards.  Incidentally  Cooper  names  and  characterizes 
on  page  91  a  western  race  of  the  Tree  Swallow,  '' Hi- 
rundo  bicolor  var.  vespertina.''  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  this  was  the  only  "variety"  or  subspecies  Cooper 
ever  named,  for  as  shown  by  most  of  his  writings  he 
did  not  lean  strongly  toward  trinomialism.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  vespertina  was  ignored  by  Cooper's 
contemporaries,  and  has  until  now  remained  almost  com- 
pletely buried,   there    seems    to   be    a   distinguishable 


western  race  of  the  Tree  Swallow,  and  this  should   be 
known  as  Tacky  cine  ta  bicolor  vesper  Una  (Cooper). 

1876.  Nesting  Habits  of  the  Californian  House 
Wren  (  Troglodytes  aedon  var.  parkmanni).  — Bull.  Nutt. 
Orn.  Club  I,  November  1876,  pp.  79-81. 

1877.  C)n  Seventy-five  Doubtful  West-coast  Birds. 
—Bull.  Nutt.  Orn.  Club  H,  October  1877,  pp.  88-97. 
(Remarks  concerning  numerous  species  attributed  to 
California  by  early  writers,  but  the  occurrence  of 
which   is   now  doubtful). 

1878.  Californian  Prairie  Chickens.  — Bull.  Nutt. 
Orn.  Club  III,  April  1878,  p.  96.  (On  the  status  in  Cali- 
fornia of  Tetrao  columbianus  [=Pedioecetes  phasainellus 
columbianus\  ) 

1880.  On  the  Migration  and  Nesting  Habits  of 
West-coast  Birds.  Proc.  U.  S.  N.  M.  II,  January  1880, 
pp.  241-251.  (A  list  of  73  species,  with  dates  of  migra- 
tion and  nesting  at  several  points  in  California). 

1886.  The  'Water  Birds  of  North  America'— A 
Few  Corrections.  — Auk  III,  January  1886,  pp.  124-126. 
(Relating  to  the  notes  on  California  birds  incorporated 
from  Cooper's  writings  into  Baird,  Brewer  and  Ridg- 
way's  work). 

1886.  The  *  Water  Birds  of  North  America'— Ex- 
planations.    — Auk     III,  July  1886,  pp.  401-402. 


1887.  Additions  to  the  Birds  of  Ventura  County, 
California.  — Auk  IV,  April  1887,  pp.  85-94.  (Extend- 
ed notes  on  29  species,  with  mention  of  many  more). 

1890.  Note  on  Pacific  Coast  Birds.  — Auk  VII, 
April  1890,  pp.  214-216.  (Explanations  in  regard  to  the 
^'Ornithology  of  California.") 

1890.  A  Doomed  Bird.  — Zoe  I,  October  1890,  pp. 
248-249.     (The  California  Vulture). 

1 89 1.  Unusual  Nesting  Place  of  Empidonax  ham- 
mondi,  — Zoe  II,  July  1891,  pp.  104-107.  (Breeding 
at  Haywards). 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 
NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
BIdg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4 
days  prior  to  due  date. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


UUL  0  1 2002 


TO  nnn  /i  i  /or\ 


■—PAMPHLET  B 

r""  Sfock/   l-p 

I  fSnerson,  W.o. 

.  J^°^^^p^^°^  sketch  of  I 

'   ^^^  1^*^  -Barnes  G.  Coonf 


Call  Nmnber: 

QL31 

C6 

E6 


296097 


m 


-^' 


